Trump extends lead over DeSantis to 14 POINTS in new poll

Former President Donald Trump has extended his lead to 14 points over his top rival, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, in a new Quinnipiac national poll for the 2024 Republican nomination. 

The survey, which was released Wednesday, shows that 46 percent of registered Republican voters would choose Trump as the party’s nominee, while 32 percent said DeSantis. 

Another 5 percent said they would back former U.N. Amb. Nikki Haley, while 3 percent would go for former Vice President Mike Pence. 

Last month, Trump and DeSantis were in a tighter race for the nomination, with Trump receiving the support of 42 percent of GOP registered voters and DeSantis getting the backing of 36 percent. 

Trump’s gains come as the ex-president has started hitting DeSantis harder, though at the same time is involved in more legal drama, as a Manhattan grand jury is hearing from key witnesses in the 2016 hush-money scheme case involving the ex-president and porn star Stormy Daniels. 

Former President Donald Trump made gains over chief rival, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, in the March Quinnipiac poll of 2024 GOP presidential contenders

Former President Donald Trump has started hitting Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis harder, as he did during his Monday appearance in Davenport, Iowa 

‘DeSantis might be the buzz in the GOP conversation, but for now Trump is seeing no erosion and, in fact, enjoys a bump in his lead in the Republican primary,’ said Quinnipiac University polling analyst Tim Malloy in a statement.  

Trump announced that he would run for the White House again in mid-November, while DeSantis has stayed on the sidelines, though by doing a book tour has made recent appearances in early primary states. 

Haley announced her presidential bid on February 15.

Quinnipiac’s February survey was conducted a day later. 

In the four weeks since, Haley’s polling has remained unchanged – as she received the support of 5 percent of registered Republicans nationally in February as well. 

Pence actually lost one point’s worth of support since February, though it’s not statistically significant with a margin of error of plus or minus 3.8 percentage points. 

No other potential GOP hopeful was polling above of 2 percent in the March survey.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has yet to announce a presidential bid, but he’s touring early primary states, like this appearance in Des Moines, Iowa, as part of a book tour 

Former Amb. Nikki Haley (left), who’s announced a run, and former Vice President Mike Pence (right) are the only other two GOP hopefuls who are polling above 2 percent 

If Trump and DeSantis were the only two in the field, Trump retained his commanding lead. 

The former president received the support of 51 percent to DeSantis’ 40 percent of Republican registered voters nationwide. 

DeSantis, however, is more competitive against Democratic President Joe Biden, but both Republicans would lose – though DeSantis’ tally is within the full poll’s 2.4 margin of error. 

Forty-nine percent of registered voters said they’d back Biden if he was in a rematch against Trump, who received the support of 45 percent. 

Against the Florida governor, Biden received the support of 47 percent of registered voters to DeSantis’ 46 percent.